The Case for Hope: Looking Ahead With Confidence and Courage

The Case for Hope: Looking Ahead With Confidence and Courage

Lee Strobel

Language: English

Pages: 107

ISBN: 031033957X

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub

Can you really trust in hope? Lee Strobel proves that you can!

Lee Strobel’s trademark investigative style paired with an uplifting message of the hope found in Jesus Christ. Lee’s timeless message walks readers through why holding on to hope is so crucial, why we can trust in the hope of Jesus Christ, and how that hope can change our lives for the better.

Lee Strobel has already helped millions delve deeper into their faith and investigate the how and the why of what they believe. His cases for a creator, Christ, and faith are air-tight and convincing to even the most stalwart skeptic. The Case for Hope is sure to inspire and ignite hope into the hearts of those who thought they were without hope.

“She’s been hurt so badly by someone who claimed to be a Christian that she’s not at all interested in God or church.” Maybe if we renew our hope in God, increase our vision for the people around us, pray more earnestly on their behalf, extend his grace in ways least expected . . . we would begin to see God work in them in ways that we currently cannot even ask or imagine. While I can sympathize with that sort of skepticism, let me remind you that God has supernatural strength, unfailing

and no amount of wishful thinking, blind optimism, or hopeful dreaming can change it. But because of his great love for you, Jesus Christ stepped forward to willingly take your death penalty so that you could be absolved of your past and assured of your future. And, frankly, the only reason we can have hope is because Jesus is saying, “All you need to do is trust in me and accept my payment on your behalf.” The all-important question is this: What will your response be? As I close this

who are the losers. . . . And if Allah had willed, He could have made you [of] one religion, but He causes to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And you will surely be questioned about what you used to do” (Qur’an 7:178, 16:93). In light of what atheism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam offer, I find myself returning to Chuck Colson’s compelling question: Where is the hope? THE SOURCE OF REAL HOPE Thankfully, we have a good answer that is grounded not in wishful thinking, but in a

mine). The resurrection of Jesus is a powerful and miraculous event on which we can confidently pin our hopes—but only if the resurrection actually happened. So how can we really know that it is, indeed, supported by the persuasive evidence of history? THE MINIMAL FACTS This issue is so important that I’d like to invite you to pull up a chair and listen in on a conversation I had with Dr. Michael Licona, one of the world’s leading scholars on the resurrection of Jesus.6 We discussed the

details of what he and his mentor, Dr. Gary Habermas, call the “minimal facts case” for the resurrection, which they spell out in their book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.7 I asked Licona to begin by explaining what they mean by a “minimal facts case.” “We only consider facts that meet two criteria,” Licona said. “First, there must be very strong historical evidence supporting them. And, second, the evidence must be so strong that the vast majority of today’s scholars on the